HISTORY BECKONS: Good show awaits ever-surprising Yego in Beijing

When Commonwealth Games javelin champion Julius Yego unleashed a world leading 91.39m throw at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham, sports enthusiasts began guessing whether he would gun for a bite of the cherry at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, later this month.

Yego’s 83.10m at the national trials last Saturday seemed to send signals of yet another first –a World Championships field event medal or, at best, a gold medal.

Yego, an alumnus of Kapsabet Boys High School, is known to make history in every championship he competes – from winning All Africa Games (2011), finalist at the London Olympics, fourth-place at the Moscow World Championships, winning the Commonwealth Games to setting the 91.39m African record.

“I always think of doing something special wherever I compete, especially in championships. I am in good shape and expect to do it again,” he said.

“But remember it’s not automatic that I perform well now that I am the world leader.

There is difference between Diamond League and the World Championships. In a championship, the best thrower wins on that day depending on the best techniques one uses on the competition.

No Kenyan has ever won a field title — or even a medal — at the IAAF World Championships, but Yego, now sits in the world top lists poised to end the streak.

The 26-year-old is a pioneer of the spear in a region where it has produced many track superstars.

“You will never even know when to throw the big distance. It may be the first, second, third or any other throw. You never know when the big distances comes your way in javelin,” said Yego.

Birmingham was his third successive competition in which Yego has improved his personal best, having won in Ostrava and finished second in Rome.

“I skipped most of the throws because I had a tight hamstring, so I was keeping it back. But I am now fully fit,” he said.

Yego has beaten the world’s field that included Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott, world champion Vitezslav Veseley and European champion Antti Ruuskanen and Beijing turns out as a decider on his bid to stretch his rich history.

“We are six world top throwers now. And I know all of them inside out,” he said. “At the moment, I have a coach but still use YouTube.”

He puts his good form down to training alongside rivals Ruuskanan and 2007 world champion Tero Pitkamaki under the guidance of Finland’s expert javelin coach Petteri Piironen since the start of the year.

‘YouTube man’ as he is known and who hails from Cheptonon village in Nandi County, started off with stick-throwing while herding livestock in the tea-rich farmlands of Nandi hills — just as a leisure time engagement.

Yego became interested in the javelin throw as a youth and he watched videos of athletes such as Jan Zelezny and Andreas Thorkildesen on YouTube to help with his technique.

Yego will be the only athlete who will represent Kenya in the field events at the World Championships as others failed to hit qualifying marks.